Some banks are born well capitalised, some achieve capital strength, and some have capital thrust upon them. How many times have bank chief executives denied needing additional capital, only to unveil deeply discounted rights issues or costly cash injections weeks later? Yet few really know how much core tier one capital is enough, and fewer are rushing to use their capital productively in an environment in which loan books are fast turning sour.

But governments seem to know. Take the latest systemic recapitalisation – Ireland’s. Shares in the country’s biggest banks soared on news of Sunday night’s €5.5bn rescue package. This will give taxpayers up to 75 per cent of the votes of Anglo Irish Bank, weakened by a recent loan disclosure scandal that scalped the chairman and chief executive. It moves headline tier one ratios up from 9.6 per cent to 10.6 per cent, which compares poorly with the 12 per cent average of the UK banks.